Apple Will Sell 5 Million Copies Of Snow Leopard, Says Analyst

Apple (AAPL) could sell about 5 million copies of Snow Leopard in the third quarter, estimates analyst firm Piper Jaffray.

The analyst firm estimates the Mac OS X installed base at over 40 million, and says the 5 million unit sales will add $66 million to Apple's operating income in the quarter.

In a note titled "Snow Leopard's Impact Baked Into Street Ests; Aggressive Competition Vs Windows," Piper Jaffray says that "This equates to as much as $0.05 in EPS impact in the quarter, assuming a 30% tax rate, but we believe the Street has largely factored this into its $1.37 EPS estimate for the Sept. quarter."

The firm also makes the following observations:

The new OS, priced at $29, is only a minor upgrade, but Apple is using it to promote it as a lower-priced, better alternative to Windows.

The new Snow Leopard is less about new features and more about keeping Mac users up to date with latest technology, as opposed to XP and Vista users who are stuck with old technology.

Snow Leopard, which is a part of all new Macs, is equipped with Microsoft Exchange support email, contacts, and calendars. Windows machines don't have this.